The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
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lively public festival <strong>of</strong> peace. Europe didn’t want a war in Yugoslavia.<br />
More than that, however, it didn’t want all the refugees.<br />
Yugoslavia, a mistake?<br />
Yugoslavia came in<strong>to</strong> being in the context <strong>of</strong> great political changes in<br />
Europe during the First <strong>and</strong> Second World Wars. <strong>The</strong> great powers were<br />
involved in the emergence, the maintenance, the life <strong>and</strong> the death <strong>of</strong><br />
Yugoslavia. In the First World War, Great Britain, France, the USA <strong>and</strong><br />
Italy supported its foundation <strong>to</strong> strengthen the barrier against Germany’s<br />
“drive <strong>to</strong> the east”, <strong>and</strong> against Bolshevik Russia. <strong>The</strong> Axis<br />
powers – Germany <strong>and</strong> Italy – destroyed it in 1941. <strong>The</strong> vic<strong>to</strong>rious<br />
powers <strong>of</strong> the Second World War, Great Britain, USA <strong>and</strong> the USSR,<br />
supported the revival <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia, because it had been successful in<br />
its fight against Hitler. Just as the vic<strong>to</strong>rious powers <strong>of</strong> the First World<br />
War had seen Yugoslavia as a guaran<strong>to</strong>r for the political balance in<br />
Europe, those <strong>of</strong> the Second World War had similar expectations <strong>of</strong> the<br />
second Yugoslavia.<br />
Yugoslavia was a conglomeration <strong>of</strong> several nations, languages, cultures<br />
<strong>and</strong> religions. It has been heir <strong>to</strong> four different cultural/civilizational realms:<br />
the Byzantine, the Mediterranean, the Central European <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Islamic. Foreign rulers have left deep traces on the cultural identity <strong>of</strong><br />
the population. Nevertheless, the differences in development were<br />
greater than between the poorest <strong>and</strong> richest parts <strong>of</strong> Europe. In Yugoslavia,<br />
all the problems <strong>of</strong> modern civilization clashed. <strong>The</strong> peoples had<br />
lived in one state only since 1918, in which there were eight years <strong>of</strong><br />
restricted parliamentary democracy, six years <strong>of</strong> royal dicta<strong>to</strong>rship, <strong>and</strong><br />
six years <strong>of</strong> pseudo-parliamentarianism. During the Second World War,<br />
the country also experienced a brutal civil war alongside the struggle for<br />
liberation. During the forty-six years thereafter, Yugoslavia was Stalinist<br />
for seven years <strong>and</strong> then grew from a centralist state <strong>to</strong> the most open<br />
socialist state that ever existed. Thus, Yugoslavia experienced capitalism<br />
<strong>and</strong> communism, fascism, occupation <strong>and</strong> civil war.<br />
Yugoslavia was an artificial <strong>and</strong> at the same time a natural area, depend -<br />
ing on how one looks at it, just as other countries are. At its foundation<br />
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